And so it begins.... A chat about lying and time machines.

Yesterday I was in the playroom with Connor and Siobhan. Connor and I were doing a puzzle, and Siobhan was coloring on the floor in a coloring book with a blue marker. It was such a sweet, nice moment. Connor and I have never done a puzzle together. This one had 750 pieces. That's not frustrating at all to a perfectionist with ADHD. Him, not me.

Well, wait....

Actually, we had a good time. While we did that, my precious three year old was lying on the floor coloring in a big giant Dora coloring book. Such a sweet, sweet moment.

*sigh*

It lasted about five minutes.

I really should have known better. After ten years of parenting, I should really have expected something to change. That's the fun of parenting I guess; little surprises all day long.

I turned my attention away from the puzzle for a moment and turned to look at Siobhan. When I turned I saw this:



and this:

And there's plenty more, but it all involves demonstrating how unclean my rug is. Let's focus on the marker shall we?

I turned to my darling baby and I asked her if she had colored on the rug.

"NO"! She told me, as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire universe. "I don't color on floors!" She said.

Just in case you weren't paying attention, let's review the facts here.
1) Siobhan was coloring in a giant coloring book on the floor.
2) Siobhan was using a blue marker.
3) Siobhan was the only person with a marker.
4) No one else was in the room, except for me and Connor.
5) We were doing a puzzle.

So, as you can see, while I didn't see her color on the rug, it seems reasonable to assume she colored on the rug. (Don't go spouting off about what happens when you "assume". I do that on my own enough already). (I mean make an ass of myself, not spout off about assuming things....)

When I asked her again, she said no way, it was her friend Genevieve. When Genevieve was over at her house to play, she colored on the rug. (Way to throw your friends under the bus there kid; let's hope you don't need to cash in any favors....)

Unless Genevieve has some sort of special time machine, which brought her to my house, allowed her to color on the rug, and then zipped her back to her house in mere moments, well... we'd have different problems.

Actually, if that were the case, I think we'd have pure awesomeness. A three year old with a time machine? My gosh. The things she could be capable of.

I think the first place I'd visit is the afternoon of 2nd grade where I lost that epic spit fight with Eric. Yes, yes I would. I'd load my pockets up with water balloons and I'd take the time machine back to that awful day. I'd pound Eric with water balloons. So. Many. Water balloons. This time, I wouldn't go home with loogie's in my hair, no siree.

That must be it. My darling daughter is obviously not capable of coloring all over the floor and then lying about it. No no no no no. Obviously, we have a time machine and a genius three year old to go find.

Winter=sickness

In our house, the signs of winter also begin to point to signs of illness. All of the kids in this house get sick every single winter. This year was no different. Beginning at Christmas time the kids and Al all got a stomach bug. From there everyone had a really bad cough. The three kids, and Al, were all on Robitussin with Codine. Next up it was asthma time. Connor was put on an oral steriod of Prednisone. Once he improved he got worse again within a few weeks and was placed on an inhaled steroid Flovent. Next up it was Siobhan's turn. She spent a few days with a cold, and then all of a sudden it became awful with an extremely high fever and cough. We waited it out for a little while, making her comfortable with motrin, but when her fever hit 102.4 even with motrin and tylenol, off to the ER we went. Of course, a trip to the ER can only be done in the midst of a record setting snow storm; I think there's an unwritten rule about that.

In the hospital we did a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. They gave her some albuteral and made us wait there until her fever (Which had reached 102.7 at that point) went down. Once it did we were able to leave with the "yes she has a really bad cold, keep an eye on things" diagnosis. The trip home, which generally takes about 20 minutes, took over 90 minutes as I drove through at least 18 inches of unplowed snow in white out conditions. (Sunday night we had over 2 feet of snow in a record setting snow storm) I should probably have stayed at a hotel, but I really wanted to be home. Over the next few days we piecemealed it so she could stay home from school. By Wednesday we thought she was good to go back. However, at 2:30 I got the call that she had a fever of 100.5. So, she stayed home on thursday with my dad. On Friday I brought her to the doctor. They noticed an ear infection. they also re-examined her chest x-ray and said that she probably had RSV when we were at the ER, but that she sounded like she was on the mend (not wheezing and rattling and clearing her lungs when coughing; which is good). They did give her an antibiotic since it's taking so long to clear up. We're on day four of that. (Which of course means her stomach is awful).

Let's hope she continues to be on the mend. She still has a rotten cough which we are trying to keep under control with the inhaler. Connor is using his inhaler as well, although not as often. Thankfully Aisling has been okay thus far.

Someone asked me the other day what winter sports Al and I participate in. Our answer? Survival. I cannot wait for a year when we make it through the winter with no trips to the ER or hospital. It's draining.

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring!

Resolutions

It's new year's eve again, the traditional time to sit down and make resolutions to change all the things about ourselves we've been trying to change for years. I traditionally don't do this, because I tend to break them within a few minutes short time anyway, but here goes nothing. (Really, probably nothing will change)

1) I resolve to lose weight. The same weight I've lost and found for years now. I guess what I mean is, I resolve to stop running into my weight watcher's leader at Dunkin Donuts.

2) I resolve to keep my house clean. Well, okay, clean enough to at least use the futon. And dry, I resolve to keep the house dry as well. Oh, and rodent free. I resolve to not allow rodents to make a home in my pantry. I also resolve to bathe the kids at least once per week. Really.

3) I resolve to feed my children only healthy, organic, locally grown food.

4) I resolve not to make my kids wear matching pajamas.

5) I resolve not to yell at my kids.

I guess that's it. That should keep me pretty busy for the rest of the week year.

Here's a few crazy pictures, just for fun:Have a blessed mew year!

It ain't easy being green

Connor today gave me his explanation for why grass and trees are green.

"I know why the grass is green. Because leprechauns go there. Sometimes the grass is brown because leprechauns don't go there. Also the trees are green because leprechauns climb up them and stay up them. Then when the leaves change colors it means that the leprechauns have left their magic powers for a little while."

I don't think I am going to teach him about photosynthesis like, ever. His explanation is waaaay more fun!

He had his soccer jamboree today, and while the entire soccer season was full of warm beautiful days, today's marathon soccer event was held in freezing temperatures with scattered rain. That figures. But, on a good note, no more blood was shed.